Since the beginning of time, people have used all sorts of apparatuses and methods for catching fish. Stone-agers used gorges made of bone, flint, or wood as fishing implements. There is evidence to suggest that the ancient Egyptians used rods for fishing. Rods with reels are known to have existed by the 16th Century. Anglers have always sought to improve their efficiency in catching fish whether by necessity, when the catch is for subsistence, or for fun, when the catch is for sport.
The addition of a reel to a fishing pole dramatically alters the fishing event. The reel affords the angler the opportunity to immediately store more fishing line that allows the bait or lure to be cast into distant locations where fish may be hiding. The ability to reel the line allows the angler to better control the movement and position of the bait. Reels may be spinning reels, spin casting reels, or fly reels, each suitable for its own application.
Volumes have been written on techniques and devices to help an angler catch more fish. There are numerous publications on fish philosophy that attempt to teach the reader how to think like a fish. What kind of food does a fish prefer? Where is a fish likely to hide? What sort of look or motion to the bait catches a fish's attention? Will a fish be repelled by the exposed barbed end of a hook? Will the species of fish sought prefer minnows, grasshoppers, crickets, crawfish, shrimp, or worms as bait?
For example, well-known large mouth bass idiosyncrasies are they are always hungry, curious, aggressive, easily teased, territorial, like shallow water, object to bright sunlight, prefer running water, and responsive to sound. They are responsive to jigs, spoons, spinners, buzzbait, and spinnerbait. They can be caught with worms, minnows, frogs, small fish, and land and earth insects. Such fish are attracted to certain sounds more so than others.
As the art of fishing has developed, so has the art of lures. A lure serves as artificial bait. The lure industry has developed to the point that there are now thousands of options available to anglers, including spoons, chuggers, jerk baits, stick baits, plugs, and chuggers. Advantageous use of a lure requires a determination of the optimum depth to run the lure, a lure's movement, speed, size, shape, color, smell, taste, and reflectivity.
Equally aggressive inventive energy has been used to determine the optimum fishing line. The choice of the optimum fishing line includes a determination of the necessary strength or test, the rigidity of the line, and other equally important characteristics such as thickness, pliability, color, durability, and material. The optimum pole to use in a fishing event is characterized by length, flexibility, resilience, thickness, and portability. Rods are optimized for saltwater fishing, stream fishing, and pond fishing. An angler determined to catch a specific species of fish will certainly have a favorite bait or lure, a line, pole, and reel combination.
The techniques involved in catching a particular size or species of fish are as varied as the combinations of fishing equipment. To secure a particular catch, the angler must understand fish psychology to know where to fish, when to fish, the type of bait or lure, line, pole, and reel to use, the type of motion to communicate to the bait, and even whether to be potentially visible to the catch.